Psalm 34:8

“Taste and see that the Lord is good!

Blessed is the man who trusts in him!”

There is, in the minds of many, a prejudice against experimental religion, insomuch that the very name of Christian experience is an object of reproach.

But, what is repentance, but a sense of sorrow on account of sin?

And what is faith, but a resting of the soul on God’s promised mercy in Christ?

And what is love, but a going forth of the soul in kindly affections towards God and man?

The heart is the proper seat of genuine religion, “My son,” says God, “give me your heart;” and, to imagine that we can have hopes and fears, joys and sorrows, excited in the soul—and yet not possess any consciousness of such feelings, is a mere delusion.

I do not mean to decry those exercises of the mind which are purely intellectual; for they are necessary in their place. But it is not in mere intellectual pursuits that genuine piety consists; they may lay the foundation for piety; but there must be a superstructure of holy affections, before the edifice of genuine piety can be complete.

This is intimated in the words before us; in which it will be proper to notice,

I. The experience recommended.

That “the Lord is good,” will admit of no doubt.

This is seen throughout all the works of Creation; every one of which bears the stamp and character of wisdom and love.

Nor is the goodness of God less visible in the dispensations of Providence; for, though we see them very partially, and are constrained to wait the outcome of events in order to form a correct judgment respecting them—yet, from what we have seen, who can but acknowledge that “God is good to all, and that his tender mercy is over all his works?”

But most of all God’s goodness appears in the great mystery of redemption. Who can reflect on that stupendous act of mercy, the giving of his only-begotten Son to die for us, and to bear our sins in his own body on the tree? Who can reflect on the sending of his Holy Spirit to instruct and sanctify us, and on the providing for his people an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled, and never-fading, reserved for them in Heaven? Who, I say, can take ever so slight a survey of these wonders, and not say with the Psalmist, “O how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you; which you have wrought for those who trust in you before the sons of men, Psalm 31:19.

Let us, then, “taste and see how good the Lord is”.

A man who had been immured all his days in a dungeon would have no conception of the radiance of the sun, in comparison with that which he would acquire by being subjected to the action of its meridian rays; nor will a person who has merely heard, and read of God’s goodness be able to form an estimate of it, in comparison with what he would after having had “the love of God shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Spirit.”

In the one state he might say, “I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear;” but, on his transition from it, he might add, “Now my eye sees you!” This is what I would wish respecting you; I would wish all “the goodness of God to pass before you,” if not in visible splendor and in audible sounds—yet in a way perceptible to the organs of faith.

But how is this to be attained? I answer: As Moses was put into the cleft of the rock, that he might be capable of sustaining the manifestations of God’s glory, Exodus 33:18-19—so you must “be found in Christ;” and then you shall behold all “the glory of God shining forth in his face!”

That we may be stirred up to seek this experience, let us notice,

II. The blessedness resulting from an experimental tasting of the goodness of God.

A just view of God’s goodness will lead us to trust in him.

“Those who know your name,” says David, “will put their trust in you,” They will go to him with:

all their guilt to be pardoned,

and all their corruptions to be mortified,

and all their needs to be supplied.

Those who know him not, are ever prone to limit either his power or his willingness to save; but those who have “tasted how gracious he is, 1 Peter 2:3,” will commit to him their every concern, and trust him for body and for soul, for time and for eternity.

And need I ask, whether people so doing shall be “blessed?”

Truly it is not in the power of language to declare the full extent of their blessedness. What tranquility possesses their minds! It is well said, that “their peace surpasses understanding,” and their “joy is unspeakable and full of glory.”

As conscious as they are of their ill-desert—they nevertheless feel assured of mercy through the blood of sprinkling.

As sensible as they are of a “body of sin and death,” and almost sinking under its weight—they yet can say, “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!”

Knowing by bitter experience, also, the power and subtlety of Satan, they yet anticipate a final victory over him, and doubt not but that he shall soon be forever “bruised under their feet.”

As for death, they have learned to number it among their treasures, 1 Corinthians 3:22; and they look forward to a habitation infinitely better than any that this world can afford, even to “a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

In every view that can be conceived, these people are blessed; as indeed the whole Scripture testifies; but more especially does David assure us of it, when, in a solemn appeal to God himself, he says, “O Lord God Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you! Psalm 84:12.”

ADDRESS.

Are there any among you who doubt the blessedness of true religion?

I am sure that you have never had any just experience of it. And what would you yourselves say to anyone who should presume, under such circumstances, to judge of earthly things? Would you not reply, you are incompetent to judge, for you never tasted of the matter? So, then, I say to you, Go first and taste whether God is good to those who seek him. If you can truly say:

that you have sought him with deep penitential sorrow, and he has shut up his affections of compassion from you;

that you have prostrated yourselves at the foot of the cross, and the Lord Jesus has spurned you from his foot-stool;

and that you have truly and unreservedly given yourselves up to God, and he has denied you the assistance of his grace;

that, while you have thus turned with your whole heart to God, and retained no allowed sin within you, God has cast out your prayer, and refused to be gracious unto you

—only then I will allow you to be judges in this matter.

But where is the man that will dare to stand up and say to the Lord Jesus Christ, ‘You have declared that you would “on no account cast out any who came to you;” but you have falsified your word in reference to me, and allowed me to seek your face in vain?’ No! There never yet existed an occasion for such a reproach, nor ever shall, as long as the world shall stand.

I say, then, that those who doubt the blessedness of true religion are in darkness even to this very hour, and “speak evil of the things which they understand not.” And, if they pretend that they have endeavored to taste whether God were good, and found him not to be so—then I hesitate not to say, that the fault has not been in God, but in themselves, in that their taste has been vitiated, and their souls rendered incapable of spiritual discernment.

To those who have “tasted that the Lord is gracious,”

I would say, Do not be satisfied with a taste. God invites you to “eat and drink abundantly! Song of Solomon 5:1,” until you are even “satisfied with his goodness, Jeremiah 31:14.” Such is your privilege, as David has declared, “How excellent is your loving-kindness, O God! Therefore shall the children of men put their trust under the shadow of your wings; they shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of your house; and you shall make them drink of the river of your pleasures! Psalm 36:7-8.”

And be careful that you do not become “weary of the Lord.” We read of some, who, having “tasted of the heavenly gift, and been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and having tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the world to come—yet so fell away, as never to be renewed unto repentance, Hebrews 6:6.” Beware, lest that ever befit your state. Beware, lest you so “crucify the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.”

If men who have never tasted of his grace commit iniquity, they bring no particular disgrace upon religion. But if you, who profess godliness, openly sin—then you cast a stumbling-block before the world; who conclude, from what they see in you, that there is not a sufficiency of love in Christ to make you blessed, or of grace to make you holy. I beg you—bring not such dishonor upon him, or such guilt upon your own souls; but so “acquaint yourselves with him, that you may be at peace;” and so delight yourselves in him, that “your souls may be satisfied as with marrow and fatness, while you are praising him with joyful lips! Psalm 63:5.”

Charles Simeon